Late Ozu [5 Discs] [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

The late Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu directed 53 films over the course of his career; these are some the finest from his artistic prime. Includes Early Spring (Haruko Sugimura. 1956/145 min.), Tokyo Twilight (Isuzu Yamada. 1957/141 min.), Equinox Flower (Shin Saburi. 1958/118 min.), Late Autumn (Nobuo Nakamura. 1960/131 min.), and The End Of Summer (Ganjiro Nakamura. 1961/103 min.). In Japanese with English subtitles. 5 DVDs. Color-b&w/NR/fullscreen.

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 5
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Screen: Color
• Subtitle: Eng

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Ganjiro Nakamura - Manbei Kohayagawa
       Nobuo Nakamura - Shuzo Taguchi
       Yoko Tsukasa - Noriko
       Michiyo Aratama - Fumiko
       Chieko Naniwa - Tsune Sasaki
       Daisuke Kato - Yanosuke Kitagawa
       Akira Takarada - Noriko's Boy Friend

• Director:

  Yasujiro Ozu

• Producer:

  Sanezumi Fujimoto, Masakatsu Kaneko, Tadahiro Teramoto

• Screenwriter:

  Yasujiro Ozu, Kogo Noda

• Cinematographer:

  Yuharu Atsuta, Yushun Atsuta, Asakazu Nakai

• Composer (Music Score):

  Kojun Saito, Takanobu Saito, Toshiro Mayuzumi

• Editor:

  Yoshiyasu Hamamura, Kojun Saito

• Art Director:

  Tatsuo Hamada, Tomoo Shimogawara

REVIEWS:

• A lovely, gentle and totally captivating exploration of the changing times in 1950s Japan and its effect upon one man from an earlier era, Equinox Flower belongs to director Yasujiro Ozu's "late period" and benefits from the heartfelt reflections of a man in the autumn of his life. As with so many other of the master director's works, this one is about the manner in which people, especially family members, try to have an effect upon other, usually unwilling, people. Ozu understands that there is a reason for this: that many of us are defined as much by others and by their place in our lives as we are by our own thoughts, feelings and actions. When Wataru's daughter breaks with tradition and chooses her own husband, it causes the older man to feel at sea in his own skin. Surprisingly, Equinox ends on a happy note, which is often not the case with Ozu. The ending is optimistic and implies that Wataru is changing, coming to accept that change is inevitable and that he must make some accommodations to the times. It sound simple, but in Ozu's hands, it comes across as profoundly moving. Working in color for the first time, Ozu uses the palette to create contrast, atmosphere and emotion, and does so masterfully. His traditional knee-level angles and beautifully compose unchanging shots are used to marvelous effect, and his cast plays every scene as close to perfection as it is possible to get. If perhaps not as "important" as some of his other works, Equinox is still a deeply felt and gorgeous meditation on life. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi
• The next-to-last film of the uniquely gifted Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, Early Autumn is a beautiful, rueful drama with comedic overtones. As in some of his other films, Ozu is concerned with change here, with the old giving way to the new and the new finding its own path in the days and years that lie ahead. Another director might take sides, but Ozu understands that change is part of nature, part of life and part of society. Some may wish to cling to the old ways, and he neither criticizes them for this nor accepts that old ways are in and of themselves the best ways. By the same token, he understands that there is much to fear as well as much to embrace in the future. All of this wrapped up in a lovely story in which what happens is not so important as how people respond to and are affected by what happens. Utilizing his famous formal compositions and almost never-moving camera, combined with his usual precise but simple edits, Ozu creates a moving, elegiac yet often immensely funny film that is full of life at the same time that it mourns the ending of life. In the central role, Ganjiro Nakamura turns in a wonderfully captivating performance, and there is excellent support as well from Setsuko Hara and Yoko Tsukasa. If Toshiro Mayuzumi's score is a bit jarring for an Ozu production, Asakazu Nakai's gorgeous faded palette cinematography more than makes up for it. Autumn is a quietly stunning work from one of the world's finest directors. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi